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Attention undergraduate students at Colorado State University who are interested in working in the field of education. Taking the new ETST/EDUC 281A1 course in fall 2018 will be an advantage when it comes to getting a job in the field of education. Restorative justice principles and practices are being implemented in K12 schools throughout the country. The CRN number is 81980. This course will be offered for the first time at Colorado State University. The course was created to support the new collaborative work between the Department of Ethnic Studies and the College of Education. The course was designed to address theory and practice in both the fields. This course addresses two areas of current concern in education: (1) the academic underachievement of children of color, and (2) the discriminatory discipline policies and practices of schools. Course Learning Objectives 1. Describe and distinguish principal ideas underlying culturally responsive teaching, namely, caring, curriculum, communication, and instruction. 2. Discuss and explain the concepts and constructs of restorative justice, particularly as they apply to schools, namely, creating and maintaining relationships, as well as healing the harm to relationships occurring as a result of wrongdoing and conflict. 3. Apply culturally responsive teaching and culturally appropriate restorative justice principles and practices.
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Good morning. My name isTom Cavanagh, and today I want to continue the discussion in the earlier blog about relationships. As a reminder, relationships are the key element to restorative justice, particularly restorative justice in schools, because we have ongoing relationships in a school setting, whereas in a legal setting we may not have those ongoing relationships.
However, it's important also because teacher-student relationships are shown by the research to be the most important element of working with and creating improved educational outcomes for children of color. What these children have told us in our interviews is they want their teachers to care for them, and they want them to care for them not only in terms of their learning but also to care for them as culturally located individuals. So let me tell you a little story to explain what I'm talking about. I was interviewing a high school aged Maori girl in New Zealand, and I simply asked her, “What is it like to be Maori in this school?” This is her answer, “Most of the time the lights are out except on Tuesday afternoons,” and of course, being a researcher, I asked, “What happens on Tuesday afternoons,” and she answered, “Kapa haka practice.” Now, kapa haka is Maori performing arts. So I consulted with my Maori colleagues in New Zealand about this answer because it was metaphorical, and I didn't quite understand. Now this student never got into trouble, got good grades, and was a very outstanding student. She found she had to park at the school gate who and what she was as a Maori person in order to be successful in the school. So what we want is for these students not only to be able to learn but also to be able to be who and what they are throughout the school, in the classroom, in the hallways, and on the playground. So that's the very important thing that I want to leave you with; not only are relationships important, but they need to be culturally appropriate. 3/21/18
My name is Dr. Tom Cavanagh, and today we begin our journey together on how do we create a culture of care in schools based upon culturally appropriate restorative justice principles and practices. There's one key element to creating this culture of care that we need to keep in mind as we go along. That key element is relationships. if you remember nothing else from your training in restorative justice regarding schools, the key idea to remember is the importance of creating and maintaining relationships. The difficulty is that we replaced the importance of relationships, the focus on relationships, with curriculum. This goes back almost 25 years. So trying to undo the last 25 years is difficult. However, it's necessary because our children of color are being left out in terms of achievement and left out in terms of discipline. Both of these areas are related, and they are the key to why our children of color are having poor educational outcomes. So as you go through and think about your work in restorative justice, I want you to keep these questions in mind:
I've been thinking that I want use this blog more often to share ideas about creating a Culture of Care in schools based on culturally appropriate restorative justice principles and practices - and to have you share your ideas.
So please look for regular blogs about these ideas. Tom Here is a brand new radio series focusing on a high school for black boys in D.C. that is committed to restorative practices. It’s quite inspirational and worth a listen…
“They spend hours every week in restorative justice circles, putting offenders and their wronged parties together to talk through what’s happened and find ways to set things right.” http://www.edweek.org/ew/projects/raising-kings-dc-boys-school/let-brotherly-love-continue-audio-npr.html We will be facilitating restorative justice training for educators at St Stephens Indian School on the Wind River Reservation in Riverton, Wyoming, on December 2nd and 3rd. I say we because we are honored to have Dr Boyd Dressler co-facilitating this training. And 10 Ethnic Studies students from Colorado State University will be accompanying Dr Tom Cavanagh, the other co-facilitator. We are grateful for superintendent Frank No Runner's invitation to facilitate this training.
I am happy to announce that I am honored to be a co-author for the chapter titled "Psychosocial analyses and actions for promoting restorative schools: Indigenous determinants connecting three international sites," which will appear in the forthcoming book, "The Handbook of Indigenous Education."
Authors of this chapter are: Angus Macfarlane is Professor of Māori Research at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand: angus.macfarlane@canterbury.ac.nz Sonja Macfarlane is Associate Professor at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand: sonjamac@waikato.ac.nz Tom Cavanagh is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA: cavanagh.tom@gmail.com Maria Nieto Ángel is a doctoral scholar at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand: maria.nietoangel@pg.canterbury.ac.nz Fiona Duckworth is a Senior Policy Analyst in the Ministry of Social Development, Wellington, New Zealand: fionaduckworth@gmail.com Letitia Fickel is Professor and Head of the School of Teacher Education at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand: letitia.fickel@canterbury.ac.nz The discussion of the role of apology and forgiveness is debated among restorative justice practitioners. However, in schools settings, I believe that apology and forgiveness are an integral part of the process of creating a culture of care based on restorative justice principles and practices. The reason is that relationships are the key to creating a culture of care, that is, building and maintaining healthy and caring relationships. When wrongdoing and conflict occur it is important for children to learn to accept responsibility for their harmful behavior and to apologize. It is also important for persons who are harmed to learn about forgiveness, how it is done more for their benefit than the benefit of the person causing the harm.
Please go to this link to see the new article regarding the keynote I gave in Buffalo, New York.
http://boces.org/Headlines/NewsEvents/tabid/80/ArticleId/14/FromTabId/80/Default.aspx Stanford researchers found that teacher empathy has a direct relationship to student suspensions. In our work we help teachers to learn how to be empathetic, particularly with children of color.
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AuthorThis blog is hosted by Dr Tom Cavanagh, President of Restorative Justice Education. I have kept a blog since 2008. If you are interested in past blog postings, you may find them at http://restorativepracticesinschools.blogspot.com/ Archives
May 2018
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